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Federal Commitment to Transit: US President George W. Bush's budget for public transportation in 2003 proposes to fund new light rail systems in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, in addition to project development for public transportation in Chicago, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Minneapolis and New York City. The budget also provides over USD1.1 billion to continue funding 27 other public transportation projects in communities throughout America.

In Salt Lake City, the Utah Transit Authority is proposing the Medical Centre Extension project, a 1.5 mile, three-station light rail transit (LRT) system extending from the University Line station at Rice-Eccles Stadium to the University of Utah Health Science Complex (Medical Centre). The Medical Centre LRT will connect to the University Line LRT and existing North/South LRT corridor. Station areas will include student housing, campus buildings, and a complex of medical facilities. The Medical Centre LRT is expected to open in 2004 and carry 4,100 weekday riders, 3,400 of which will be new to the system.

The Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority is developing a 5.9 mile, eight-station LRT (the Los Angeles East Side LRT) to serve a dense, urbanized, heavily transit-dependent area between downtown Los Angeles and East Los Angeles. The system is expected to carry 15,000 weekday riders, 7,600 of which will be new transit customers, in 2020. The East Side LRT also is expected to contribute to improved air quality in Los Angeles region, which is classified as an "extreme" area for ozone and a "serious" area for carbon monoxide.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation
6 February 2002

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